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Palestinian Arab who murdered two American Jews (and others) in Israel, and then found haven in PLO territory, the Inquirer didn't report it. What more compelling evidence could there be, of the double standard that the Inquirer applies in its coverage of the Middle East?
Palestinian Arab and the victims are Israeli and American Jews? The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Lt. Gen. Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, recently announced that Israel had identified a senior Palestinian Arab terrorist living in PLO territory, Adel Awadallah, as the mastermind of two recent massacres: the Jerusalem marketplace bombing on July 30, 1997, in which 16 people were killed, including Mrs. Leah Stern, formerly of New Jersey; and the Ben-Yehuda Street bombing in Jerusalem on September 4, 1997, in which five people were killed, including 14 year-old Yael Botwin, formerly of California. The revelation of Awadallah's identity was ignored by the Inquirer. The fact that he murdered two Americans was not considered newsworthy. The PLO's failure to surrender Awadallah doesn't seem to interest the Inquirer's editors. The Inquirer's failure to report about Awadallah is consistent with the Inquirer's attitude toward other American victims of Arab terror. The Inquirer's coverage of the Ben-Yehuda Street bombing, on September 5 and September 6, made no mention of the fact that 14 year-old Californian Yael Botwin was one of the victims. The Inquirer 's editors certainly had access to the information; it was included in the Associated Press's September 5 report about the bombing. The Inquirer frequently publishes Associated Press articles about the Middle East--but for some reason, the A.P. article mentioning Yael Botwin never made it into the Inquirer. The Inquirer's Jerusalem correspondent, Barbara Demick, did, however, take interest in another 14 year-old victim of that Ben-Yehuda bombing. Smadar Elchanan, who was killed in the blast, was the grand-daughter of an extreme-leftwing Israeli politician (now deceased), Mattitiyahu Peled. After the bombing, Smadar's mother (Peled's daughter) made harsh statements blaming the Israeli government for not making more concessions to the PLO. That's what interested Barbara Demick and her editors at the Inquirer. Demick authored a 26-paragraph article about Smadar, filled with quotes from her mother attacking the Israeli government. The Inquirer 's editors ran it on the front page, complete with photos, one of them showing Smadar as a baby.
Palestinian Arab terrorism even has a local Philadelphia angle, to give the Inquirer its "hook," if it needs an excuse to cover the story. Eight years ago, a young Philadelphia woman, Rita Levine, was one of 14 people murdered when a PLO terrorist --not Hamas or Islamic Jihad, but PLO-- forced an Israeli bus off a cliff on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway. How about a human-interest story by the Inquirer , describing the impact that Continued on page 3 Spotlight on the Philadelphia Media - Page 3 Rita's death had on her family in Philadelphia? How about an investigative report by Barbara Demick, to find out which PLO officials masterminded the attack and gave the bus-terrorist his orders? How about Demick digging a little deeper, and finding out how much money the PLO or Palestinian Authority are paying the terrorist's family while he is in prison? How about an op-ed by Trudy Rubin, demanding that Arafat and the PLO pay financial compensation to the Levine family? How about the slightest acknowledgment by somebody at the Inquirer that it is wrong for Arafat to be sheltering the terrorists who have murdered 9 American Jews since 1993 (and others prior to 1993); that it is wrong for the PLO to refuse to pay compensation to the families of the many Americans they murdered or wounded in terrorists attacks during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s; that the Clinton administration should be demanding that Arafat hand over the Palestinian Arab killers of Americans for trial in the U.S., just as he is demanding that Qadaffi hand over the Libyan terrorists who bombed Pan Am flight 103?